Oscars Increase Best Picture Nominees to TEN

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today that it will name 10 Best Picture nominees next year instead of five. It’s definitely an odd choice, considering the Oscar’s is for the crème-de-le-crème, and not just average movies. Are there really that many great movies that are getting snubbed from being nominated?

“After more than six decades, the Academy is returning to some of its earlier roots, when a wider field competed for the top award of the year,” said AMPAS president Sid Ganis. “The final outcome, of course, will be the same—one Best Picture winner—but the race to the finish line will feature 10, not just five, great movies from 2009.” Their thinking is this could help the chances of more commercially popular films, which are often edged out of the running by typical “Academy films” like The Reader or Frost/Nixon.

The good thing is having more nominees will give us more actors on the red carpet which equals more starlets to dazzle us with gowns, jewels, and shoes.